Sorry Scotland, you’re not winning this one either.
England continued its dominance over Scotland on the pitch in both men’s and women’s football when Jodie Taylor scored a marvelous hat trick and England dismantled the poor Scots 6-0 on Wednesday.
The match wrapped up the first matchday of the Women’s European Championship, with few — if any — surprises thus far. In terms of FIFA’s world rankings, there were only two matches that came close to upsets: No. 25 Russia beating No. 18 Italy 2-1 and No. 24 Austria beating No. 17 Switzerland 1-0. Germany, ranked second, not winning is always a surprise, but No. 9 Sweden is unquestionably among the top five teams in Europe.
Taylor, who plays for Arsenal and the Portland Thorns, stole the show in the opening round of matches, outscoring every other team thus far (besides her own). Only Spain and Russia managed more than one goal in their first games and Taylor had that many early in the second half. Playing in her first ever Euros match, Taylor scored the first Euros hat trick in 20 years.
Scotland has beaten England twice in 25 matches, the last in 2011. The story is similar on the men’s side, where Scotland has one win against England since 1986 (1-8-2). The two countries played the first ever international soccer match back in 1872, a 0-0 draw.
Taylor began her scoring spree in the 11th minute, running onto a through ball that magically weaved its way through the Scottish defense. The former Oregon State player had an easy one-on-one opportunity with Scotland goalie and captain Gemma Fay, who before the match said it was the biggest game of her career.
In the 27th minute Taylor had her second when she was the only one who wanted to do anything decisive about a ball bouncing around Scotland’s 18-yard box after a free kick.
Ellen White made it 3-0 before halftime and Taylor was back at it early in the second half with her best goal of the night. In the 53rd minute, Taylor ran onto a knocked-on long ball and dinked a first-time lob over Fay to make it 4-0.
Taylor was mercifully substituted after 59 minutes but England didn't stop scoring. Jordan Nobbs and Toni Duggan added late goals against a demoralized Scotland, which will have a mountain to climb to have any shot at reaching the knockout rounds. Nobbs’ goal came off a stunning volley.
One reason you know this is women’s soccer and not men’s soccer is that England brought the most excitement to the opening eight matches of the Euros.
England faces its toughest competition in the group stage next, going against Spain (2-0 winner over Portugal) on Sunday. Other games to watch for in the second matchday, starting Thursday, include Netherlands-Denmark and Germany-Italy. All games are being streamed live by ESPN.
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